By all accounts so far, up until this weekend, Jason Dalton was a nice guy who kept to himself. He and his wife of 20 years have two children, and they’d lived in the same home for 18 years. He had no criminal record, and there’s no indication he suffered from mental illness. He enjoyed cars and liked guns.

We often hear that all it takes to stop a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with one. Dalton was a good guy — until the moment he wasn’t. By the time law enforcement caught up with him on Saturday night, he was suspected of killing six of our neighbors, including a high school student and his dad, a retired teacher and her sister-in-law, a retired Kellogg worker and a 74-year-old woman who enjoyed gardening.

On Sunday, in Kalamazoo — the city I call home — we woke up asking the same questions asked too many times in too many other communities before ours: How could someone gun down strangers who did nothing to provoke him? Why did it happen here — a place where we felt safe? How will the families who lost loved ones recover, and how can we feel safe again? How many more times must this happen before we make this violence stop?

There are no answers to many of these questions. There’s no way to fathom the mind of a killer who could slaughter senselessly. There’s no particular reason why it happened in our community, just as there isn’t a particular reason that it happened in Littleton, Colo., Newtown, Conn., Aurora, Colo., or San Bernardino, Calif. Like so many other communities shaken by gun violence it will take time for our city to recover.

That leaves the last question: How much longer do we have to wait? The only possible answer can be that the time for action is now.

The NRA and its out-of-touch allies will say there’s no single measure that can put a stop to this mindless gun violence. They’re right. The problem has become so large — and the need to take action so immediate — that the solution to ending gun violence must have several components. That includes legislation to address the problem and its underlying issues.

Fortunately, many of these measures have already been introduced to the Michigan Legislature. They include:

House Bills 4261-2, which would close the “open carry” loophole in state law to prohibit the open carry of firearms on the premises of schools, hospitals, day care centers, libraries and other sensitive public places.

HBs 4590, 4591 and 4592, which would close the private sale loophole to require universal background checks in Michigan.

HBs 4942-3, which would create a Gun Violence Restraining Order allowing for the removal of firearms from those whom are identified as someone clearly troubled and susceptible of doing harm to themselves and/or others.

HBs 4944-5, which would allow schools, hospitals, day care centers, places of worship and other such places to prohibit the open carry of firearms on their property.

We are ready for a common-sense approach to reducing gun violence. At a recent town hall I held, several people said they wanted to explore smart gun technology to reduce accidents. Others mentioned liability reform to make sure those who are negligent with a gun are held financially responsible. In addition, Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller suggested reviewing communication policies to make sure the public is quickly informed of active shooter situations. Between these ideas and the proposed legislation, I am confident that we have a plan to make our communities safer.

I am not naïve enough to think these measures alone will solve the problem of gun violence. However, I’m smart enough to know that the system we have now isn’t working, and unless we take action, we can’t hope for change. The longer we wait, the more lives we’ll lose.

Jon Hoadley, a Democrat from Kalamazoo, represents Michigan's 60th District in the state House of Representatives.